M & M Are Sweet at the World Cup in Stockholm

By Phillip Whitten

STOCKHOLM, January 14. As they have so often in the past, M & M – Moses and Moravcova – ruled the pool tonight, the second and final day of competition of World Cup 4.

The USA’s Ed Moses, clearly back in the flow after more than half a year of some rough times, swept to victory in the 100 meter breaststroke in 58.08 seconds, within hailing distance of his own world record. The win gave the Curl-Burke star a sweep of all three breaststroke events and made him one of only two swimmers to win three events in Stockholm. Long course WR-holder Kosuke Kitajima of Japan was second in 58.68 while Britain’s James Gibson placed third in 58.87.

The Brits placed five men in the final, just as they did in yesterday’s 50, and they finished third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh – all of them under a minute.

Yesterday, Slovakia’s Martina Moravcova cruised to victory in the 100 meter fly with only Australia’s Petria Thomas putting up a fight. Tonight the former SMU Mustang had to pull out all the stops to take the 100 free in 54.10, as only 12-hundredths of a second separated the top five finishers. Sweden’s Johanna Sjoberg (54.12) and Australia’s Thomas (54.15) earned silver and bronze.

MM had an easier time of it in the 100 IM, joining Moses as the meet’s only triple winners. Moravcova clocked 1:00.32, well in front of China’s Zhou Yafei (1:01.06) and Britain’s Allison Sheppard (1:01.67).

Men’s Events
The USA’s Jason Lezak reaffirmed his claim to being king of the sprints when he won the 50 free in 21.77 seconds. Yesterday Lezak was golden in the 100 free. Tonight, France’s David Maitre was the only other swimmer able to break 22 seconds.

Yesterday Ryk Neethling found the 100 free a little too short and the 400 just a bit too long, placing second and third in those events. But tonight, the 200 was just right for the South African, as he struck gold in an African record 1:43.85 to score an easy win.

The 1500 was anything but easy, as Russia’s Yuri Prilukov and Romania’s Dragos Coman battled stroke-for-stroke through all 60 laps, most of the time separated by less than a tenth of a second. For the first 1100 meters they were joined by Japan’s Takashi Matsuda. When it came down to the nitty-gritty, though, Prilukov put half a second between himself and Coman to win, 14:46.59 to 14:47.13. Matsuda was third in 14:53.94.

The USA’s Randall Bal won his second event of the meet, recording another decisive dorsal victory, this time in the 50 meter back where his 23.92 was half a second better than Japan’s Tomomi Morita (24.41). Yesterday he won the 100 meters in 51.61.

The 200 meters back fell to Evgueny Aleshin of Russia in 1:53.21, with China’s Wang Wei and Japan’s Morita taking the next two places.

Ukraine’s Andriy Serdinov, who briefly held the long course WR in the 100 fly last summer, won the 100 here tonight in 51.66, a tenth of a second ahead of Russia’s Nikolai Skvortsov.

Kosuke Kitajima repeated his upset win in the individual medley. Last night he victimized Slovenia’s Peter Mankoc, the favorite, and 400m IM WR-holder, Brian Johns of Canada in the 100 meters. Tonight, in the 200, the Pocket Rocket was dismissed as a contender, but once again he rose to the occasion to score a narrow victory, clocking 1:56.68 to Johns’ 1:56.74. Mankoc touched more than a second later.

Women’s Events

Chinese newcomer Gao Chang, 16, had the best overall women’s performance tonight, winning the 100m backstroke in 58.49. Japan’s Reiko Nakamura was well back in 59.80, 8-hundredths ahead of the USA’s Courtney Shealy, a 2000 Olympian in this event.

Three women battled for the gold in the 400 free, with Romania’s Camelia Potec triumphant in 4:02.99. China’s Pang Jiaying was second in 4:03.80 with Britain’s Mel Marshall, the winner of the 200 meters, third in 4:04.36.

Leading all the way, US Olympic silver medalist Kristy Kowal upset Sweden’s Emma Igelstrom, the WR-holder in the 50m breaststroke in that two-lap spring, 31.18 to 31.38. Russia’s Elena Bogomazova was third in 31.46.

There was never any doubt about the 200 meter breast, which was won by Euro champ Mirna Jukic in 2:23.36 with Kowal second, almost three seconds back.

To the delight of the crowd, Swedes took first and second in the 50 fly, with WR-holder Anna-Karin Kammerling getting to the wall a fingernail’s length ahead of Therese Alshammar, 25.98 to 26.01. Australia’s Petria Thomas set a national record with her 26.07, good for the bronze.

Thomas finally found her niche in the 200 fly, holding off a determined, but late, challenge by Japan’s Yuko Nakanishi. At the wall, it was Thomas first in 2:08.16, followed by Nakanishi in 2:08.54.

China’s Zhou Yafei, who fashioned a decisive victory in the 200 IM yesterday, made it a repeat performance tonight in the 400. Zhou finished in 4:35.46, more than six full seconds in front of Nakanishi.

The USA dominated the two-day stopover in the Swedish capitol, winning eight events (8-1-3) for a total of 12 medals. Japan actually won the most medals – 15 – including four gold, while two other countries beside the USA won 12 medals, Sweden and Great Britain.
Berlin, on January 17-18, is the next stop on the World Cup circuit.